A School in Maple
by Draco Lupus
Summary: If you lump together teenagers, a whole pile of weapons and tons of bloodthirsty monsters, what do you get? A school for combat. And of course, in these kind of schools, there are always friends and enemies and what not. Especially adventures. There wouldn't be a story otherwise, right? Rated T for foul language.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright, this is my first story! Please review!**

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><p>In Elinia, the city above the trees, the sun had just started to rise. The morning's atmosphere was peaceful, filled with the chirps of cicadas.<p>

"Hey, Ascion! We're gonna be late if you don't wake up! ASCION!"

In front of a house suspended rather precariously on a tree branch, a certain young archer's yelling can be heard. Thankfully, nobody was around to hear her. There was a thump of somebody hitting the wooden floor from inside the house, a muffled reply, then the sound of bare feet running across wood. In less than five minutes, the door was thrown open.

The boy called Ascion Wolf jumped out of the house, a sandwich between his teeth. His hair was unkempt, his school shirt wasn't completely buttoned, and his entire body is still covered with droplets of water from his three minute bath.

"Sorry I'm late, Kaede!" He yelled as much as he could with bread jammed between his teeth.

"Geez, Wolfie!" The girl known as Hayashi Kaede sighed, calling the boy by his nickname as the two of them started to walk. "We've been having this problem since last year! Can you _please_ learn how to wake up on time?"

"Hey, it's your idea that we have to reach school ten minutes before the bell rings."

"You still remember the last time we did it your way?"

Ascion huffed indignantly as he swallowed his sandwich. "Alright, so we did end up punished for being late. It wasn't that bad. Besides, we were only late by around three seconds." Kaede sighed, rubbing her temples. "Ascion, your idea of getting to school on time is three seconds before the bell rings. And we had to wipe every window pane of that castle of a school. How is that not so bad?"

"Alright." Ascion grumbled. "I admit it was really bad. I can still feel the toll it took on my brain..."

"That's cause you controlled fifteen wiping cloths at the same time."

The two teenagers continued their casual banter while they headed for the Dimensional Mirror. The young boy called out "Maple Middle School", and the two teenagers stepped through the portal. They were instantly transported to a different place, almost as if they had stepped from one picture into another.

The ground the two teenagers were walking on had been thick, stout tree branches, but now they were walking on a dirt path. The soaring trees that is the city of Ellinia disappeared, and only small oaks populated the grassy fields around them. A small lake lay glistering in the sunlight to the right of the dirt path. At the end of the path is the Maple Middle School.

The large castle that is Maple Middle School is made of stone bricks. Although it looks like a very old castle, the insides are fixed with lights, fans, and tons of special rooms. Chemical rooms, smithies, and high tech computer rooms are some of the things the school provides for its students.

"Let's go find our classroom." Ascion grinned. "Out of the thousands of classrooms this freaking castle has."

"I thought you had the school's layout memorized."

"That, I do. But it's more fun to do this the old fashioned way, and besides, we get an excuse to be late!" Ascion said cheerfully.

Kaede rubbed her temples again. "Wolfie... I know you have enough knowledge stored in that thick head of yours to graduate with distinctions for just about every course in a university, but I don't."

"I could teach you." Ascion offered helpfully.

"Yeah, you can. But that means wasting time studying outside school hours."

"True." Ascion admitted. "Alright then, let's go. I'll lead!"

Kaede eyed him warily. "Make sure you get your mental map correctly this time, cause the last time you tried to lead me, you got the map upside down and led me to the boys toilet."

"Yeah, that was really embarrassing. But I've got it right this time. Probably."

"You're not inspiring confidence in me!"

"Come on, this way!" Ascion walked off towards the stairs. He heard some muttering about a stupid magician driving her crazy, but the archer followed him up the stairs. Before long, they reached their classroom, 2-A.

"See? I got it right!" Ascion grinned.

"This time." He heard Kaede mutter behind him.

Ignoring the statement, Ascion pushed the door open, then immediately ducked to avoid a flying chair.

"Friendly welcome." Ascion said sarcastically as he walked into the room. Kaede followed after, carrying the chair. After tossing the plastic chair back to the demon that threw it, she joined Ascion next to the windows.

"Here's good?" Ascion asked. Kaede nodded, and the two friends sat side by side, with Ascion sitting next to the window.

"Wake me up when the teacher comes." Ascion muttered, leaning back in his chair and propping his feet on the table.

"That can _not_ be comfortable."

"Kaede, I'm so tired I can sleep on a gravel road. This is nothing."

"You wouldn't be so sleepy if you hadn't stayed up trying to teach yourself how to use your magician's staff as a quarterstaff, gaming through the night, or reading your parents' thick science books."

"... I guess I'm quite predictable, huh?" Ascion admitted.

"So what were you doing?"

"All three."

"Figures. Now go to sleep. Honestly, I'm worried for you..."

"Night." Ascion mumbled. "Or morning. Whatever." He drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

A little while later...

"Ascion." He heard somebody say. "Ascion." Probably a dream, he thought, about to drift off again. And he would have, except that there was suddenly nothing under him. He nearly crashed onto the floor before he suddenly disappeaared in a flash of blule and white light.

With a wave of his staff, Ascion teleported behind the person that yanked his chair out from under him. He raised his staff, attempting to blast fire at the person, but she turned and pushed his staff to point behind her.

Ascion quickly switched to teleportation magic, flicking across the classroom and building up his magic to unleash an inferno.

He would have shot the wall of flames, but he took a good look at his target and he stopped casting. "Kaede," he sighed, "couldn't you have just shaken me awake?"

"I tried." The archer replied, hanging her bow back onto her back and sliding her drawn arrow back into its quiver. "You wouldn't wake up. And you didn't need to put up such a spectacular performance. Get back here."

Ascion took a glance towards the rest of the class and spotted an amused teacher looking at him. In fact, the entire class was looking at him. He chuckled sheepishly, sliding his staff into its holder on his back. "My bad." He called out to the class as he walked back to his seat.

"Geez, Wolfie." Kaede muttered as they took their seats. "I thought you were going to close your eyes and rest, not sleep. Did you forget that you only had ten minutes?"

"As I said, my bad." Ascion muttered back.

"Alright." The teacher started. "All of you, shut up and listen. My name is Benjamin Lee. You can call me Mr Lee, or if you don't want to, you can come up with a nickname for me. Just nothing funny, please, or you'll regret it. Alright, the self introductions-" the entire class groaned. Who likes self introductions? "-can wait till tomorrow." Mr Lee finished, causing the class to cheer silently.

"Oh, and since this is the first day at school, first two periods are free periods. Apparently, the principal feels that there's a need for "better communication between the youngsters". Personally? I think he just wants to see if any fights would break out somewhere. It amuses him. Well, that's what I think. Alright, free period!" Mr Lee ended with a shout, and the class cheered loudly this time.

"Great." Ascion muttered. "Sleep. What're you gonna do, Kaede?"

"Don't know. Archery practice. Maybe read a book. Perhaps mixing chemicals to see which one can blow up in your face." Kaede joked. Then she drew her bow. "Actually, archery practice sounds fun." She looked at the trees that stood about a meter away from the classroom building.

Her bow glowed gold, and magic arrows appeared, lining up next to her bow like a belt of bullets from a machine gun. She took one, drew it, and shot an arrow. Even from this distance, Ascion can see that she stuck a tree trunk with her magic arrow.

"A falling leaf? Really? That's some impressive accuracy." He marveled sleepyly.

"Thanks. Now go to sleep." Kaede nocked another arrow.

"In a moment." The sleepy boy raised a hand, stopping and levitating a table that was thrown towards him.

"Seriously." Ascion shouted irritably to the demon and Nova that were arguing. "If you want to fight, go elsewhere. Don't involve other people!"

He flung the table back. There was a shout of apology, but by then, Ascion had already fallen asleep.

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><p><strong>Um, so is this good? Bad? Again, please review, but don't flame! Thank you!<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the second chapter! Sorry, I wanted to upload this earlier, but my cousin who's beta-ing for me was swamped by schoolwork. Or she was lazy. Well, on with the story!**

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><p>Chapter 2:<p>

"Ascion!" Kaede roughly shook the sleeping magician. Seriously, he could sleep like a rock. Maybe worse. Wait, sleeping worse than a rock would be sleeping like the dead. Oh whatever. Giving up on shaking, Kaede flicked him on the forehead. When Ascion still continued to sleep, Kaede formed a lump of ice in her hand and placed it on Ascion's neck…which proved to do nothing except make him grunt in his sleep.

"Ascion!" Losing her patience, she flattened the ice into a thin, brittle sheet, and proceeded to smack him right on the face. The ice shattered, successfully waking up the sleeping magician.

"Wha-?!" Ascion almost slipped off his chair, which had been balanced on the two hind legs. He scowled. "Kaede! Really?"

"Lessons are starting, idiot." Kaede deadpanned.

"One hour's gone by already?" Ascion rubbed his eyes. "That was fast."

"Yeah, and our teacher should be coming in-" A man walked in through the open front door, yelling that free period was over. "... now." Kaede finished, and proceeded to take her seat.

School went by quickly. While Kaede was paying full attention in class, Ascion did everything but that. Like playing with fire. Or propping his feet on the table and reading a manga. Or spacing out. Or sleeping. Or- well, you get the idea.

Of course, that annoyed the teachers who called him out frequently to answer questions, to which Ascion-

"What is the answer to my question, Ascion?" The math teacher asked sharply.

"The answer is 34 degrees, and since this is an isosceles triangle, you take 180 minus 34, then divide the answer, 146, by two, getting the last two angles, which are both 74 degrees. Afterwards, as angles on a straight line add up to 180 degrees, you take 180 minus 74 to reach the final answer, which is 106 degrees."

Oh boy, Kaede thought. In less than two hours, Ascion successfully managed to pissed off every teacher that came in and answered every one of their questions. "Someday, Wolfie." Kaede muttered, "You're going to regret not listening in class."

"Someday." Ascion agreed. "But for now, I'm gonna enjoy the perks of being a genius."

"Show off."

Just then, the bell rang. The teacher shouted, "All of you are dismissed for lunch! Don't forget to complete your homework! Especially you, magician!" Of course, he was referring to Ascion.

"If you would like, I could even hand it up now ." Ascion called back, stifling his laughter at the incredulous look his math teacher gave him. "Let's go, Kaede. I've got my lunch here."

Before long, the duo winded up near the lake next to the school castle.

"Hah, I missed eating together with you like this." Ascion sighed, settling down on the grass under a tree. Lithely, Kaede scaled the tree and sat on a branch, her legs dangling near Ascion.

"Ascion, we ate together just two days ago when we went mushroom hunting." Of course, Kaede didn't mean looking for mushrooms to harvest, but literally hunting monsters called Blue Mushrooms.

"I know, but what I mean is that we haven't eaten together peacefully without having to worry about monsters attacking every five seconds since the last school year." Ascion explained, casually leaning back on the tree trunk.

He opened his lunch box and started devouring the sandwiches inside. In his defense, he is a growing boy, and he needs to eat a lot. Although most would say he's a bit too young for that.

"Ascion, I thought boys only start eating as much as a dragon when they're fifteen."

"I use a lot of energy to cast my spells." Ascion replied nonchalantly. "And I'm thirteen. It's close enough."

Soon, the two started chatting happily like two friends of their age should be, albeit the occasional mentions of dangerous things like almost burning down his own house when testing out his experiments (Ascion) or nearly getting eaten by a Drake (Kaede).

After they had finished their meal, they decided to take a stroll around the lake. Students who saw them approaching either quickly packed up and left or glared at them warily. Ascion and Kaede paid them no heed, continuing their casual stroll.

"Same as always, huh?" Kaede commented wryly as another group of students hastily left.

"What do you expect?" Ascion asked, pretending to be all serious while stroking an imaginary beard. "People irrationally fear what other people fear. They hate people they can't understand without trying to understand the said person. This is how it is, was, and probably always will be."

"Thank you, Professor Wolf." Kaede said sarcastically.

"My pleasure, my dear student." Ascion replied jokingly.

The two of them laughed as they continued walking.

"Hey you!"

"Oh boy." Ascion muttered, irritated. "Even though there are all those rumors about me supposedly murdering people or kidnapping people above my own age for crazed experiments or what not, there will always be idiots who disregard that and judge on my appearance."

"You do look like a rich boy."

"I am a rich boy." Ascion sighed as he turned to face the bullies that seem to exist no matter which school anybody goes to.

"So, how can I help you?" Ascion replied as politely as he could. No sense making his already horrible reputation worse than what it already was.

The biggest guy sneered at the young magician. He was about two heads taller than Ascion, which would have normally intimidated anyone if the school they were in was not a combat school. "I'm actually hungry right now, so why don't ya give me all the money ya got?" The big guy asked while cracking his knuckles menacingly.

"This?" Ascion asked, patting his pocket. "I'm pretty sure your mom would give you some if you're just polite enough to ask, right? Though, I've a feeling you'll need a lot of practice. You don't seem too good with the whole 'polite' thing."

Ascion was never very good with words, and more often than not, he offended people without realizing it, which is why many people had no qualms about spreading malicious rumors about him.

And obviously, while trying to appease a bully, you don't bring up stuff about their manners or their moms, and you most certainly don't diss them by sounding sarcastic.

"Ya little punk!" The bully swiped his fist at Ascion, but he teleported out of the way.

"Whoa, man! Chill! What did I even do?" Ascion asked. Normally, that would have been enough, but being how he is, he just had to add, "You should learn to be more composed, or your mom might just send you off to school without your lunch money again!"

"You little shit!" Ascion narrowly dodged another attack, all the while thinking what did I do to deserve this, oh great Alicia?

Ascion did not miss the look on Kaede's face. "What did I do?" he demanded, to which Kaede just turned away and proceeded to bang her head on a tree.

Not understanding what went wrong, Ascion decided that the best course of action right now was to get out of here. So he blasted the nearby lake with a large stream of fire, causing steam to suddenly bellow out and form a smokescreen. Taking this opportunity, Ascion quickly grabbed Kaede and ran.

Finally deeming that they had ran far enough, the two teenagers finally sat down side by side on a bench. The only difference was, while Kaede looked slightly winded, Ascion was panting as if he had just ran a marathon.

"Aw, come on." Kaede patted Ascion on the back. "We only ran five hundred meters!"

"Yeah yeah, that's real short. For you, maybe." Ascion managed to say, before looking up and taking note of their surroundings.

Nearby, two students were sitting around a table, playing... chess? The brown haired pirate sitting on one side looked at them nervously, no doubt staying in his seat only because they didn't get any closer and his opponent didn't move.

His opponent was decidedly different. His blue eyes casually wandered over to them, no fear or uneasiness shown. In fact, he gave them a small nod of acknowledgment before turning back to the board.

Ascion raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Now, that was the friendliest thing I've seen off the hunting fields! Who's that guy?"

Despite being best friends with the "most dangerous student in the school", Kaede still had some friends, and like most girls her age, Kaede liked listening to rumors and gossips, which is how Ascion is kept up to date on whatever ridiculous things people claim he does.

Although she never gossips about people behind their back, listening in makes gathering information about the school much easier. "I think his name is Akio. Shinohara Akio." Kaede supplied. "A Japanese name, though no one is sure whether he's actually Japanese."

"You seem very sure."

"How often do you actually see a white haired and blue eyed teen with such a long sword hanging off his belt?"

"Not often." Ascion admitted. "Warriors tend to like looking cooler with their weapons sheathed on their backs instead of on the waist. Even if it's completely impractical."

"Exactly. Anyway, that guy is said to be the smartest warrior in the school. He also likes to play chess. Although you can't tell since he's always expressionless. He's also known to be curt and soft in answering, and is said to be very popular among the girls. Their confessions were all rejected though."

"Are you one of them?" Ascion asked Kaede suspiciously, though one could tell that he was obviously joking.

"Of course not." Kaede waved it off easily. "I'm sensible enough not to go crazy over someone I barely know. And besides, did I mention? His expressionless face hasn't changed since the day he was enrolled."

"He seems kind of interesting." Ascion pondered. "And he isn't avoiding us like everybody else does. Which could mean that he either hasn't heard about the rumors or he just doesn't care. I actually want to see if he would be our friend. I like people who don't judge based on rumors. Oh well, we'll think about this next time. Let's head back to the class."

Kaede got off the bench, an amused smile plastered on her face. "Are my ears deceiving me? Did you, Ascion Wolf, just said that you want to be early?"

"Shut up." Ascion muttered, slightly embarrassed. "I can be punctual when I want to, y'know?"

As the two walked off towards the school, Kaede noticed the white haired warrior staring at them as if he wanted to talk, but he turned back to the board and emotionlessly shifted his bishop.

"Checkmate." Kaede heard him say softly before the warrior stood up gracefully and left.

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Next chapter is up! Finally! By the way, the text in brackets means its my cousin speaking. Or typing. Whatever.**

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><p>Chapter 3:<p>

"Wolfie, get up." Kaede sighed as she shook the snoozing magician once again. School had ended about an hour ago, and the two of them had decided to help Instructor Athena Pierce, chief of Henensys Town, in getting rid of some Stone Golems.

Apparently, the number of golems had started to rise rapidly in number, and their behavior had started getting restless. And Athena was too lazy to kill them herself for she got more pressing issues at hand, like reading her romance novels.

Currently, Kaede was squatting on a branch, trying to shake Ascion awake. After the long trek to the stone ruins where the golems on Victoria Island resides in, they had decided to take a short break just outside the ruins. Obviously, the genius magician had dozed off the moment he lay down on a thick branch.

Giving up on waking Ascion with the "nice girl" method, Kaede jumped off the branch, landing gently on the ground. Raising her bow and smirking, she shot a bolt of golden energy at Ascion.

The moment he heard the twang of the bowstring, his eyes had snapped open, and a protective layer of magic had surrounded his whole body. However, Kaede wasn't aiming for him. The branch Ascion was sleeping on snapped, and without any support, he fell.

Ascion's battle instincts kicked in and he disappeared with a flash of blue light. Kaede, who was already accustomed to his instinctive defensive measures, ducked down to avoid the fireball that came towards her from behind.

Finally fully awake, Ascion stowed his staff onto his back. "Really Ascion? Kaede huffed, annoyed."Must we do this every time I try to wake you up?"

"It keeps the muscles warm." Ascion said blandly.

Kaede sighed. "Ascion, it's not even cold."

"I know."

"…Instructor told us to get rid of around two hundred golems. It's already four right now, but we haven't even destroyed a single one. I don't know about you, but I'm really in need of a bath. I haven't bathed since morning and it's starting to feel disgusting. And do I have to remind you that we still have homework to complete, like tons of it."

"I don't really have the urge to bathe." Ascion noted. "And I'm already done with my homework."

"What! When did you- never mind." Kaede drew her pistol out of her shoulder hostler with spectacular speed and shot towards her left. Archers don't normally use guns, for they are usually many times stronger when using a bow. However, for those with exceptional aim, the dead center of the sphere balancing the top half of the golem is a fatal spot, and an iron bullet can easily pierce that spot and destroy the golem immediately.

Kaede is one of those exceptions, and she easily took down a golem with a single shot. "We have work to do."

"You're the one that dragged me into this." Ascion grumbled. "I could be laughing at the irony of being one of the strongest and most revered characters in the school guild on that online game. Or I could be completing that single player game I've just bought a week ago."

"You play eroge?" Kaede gasped, poking fun at her best friend.

"I do not!"

"Oh really? I heard that the only single player game boys our age play are those kind of games!"

"Who told you that! It's not true!" **(A/N: It really isn't, by the way ****[oh really?] ****Yes, really.)**

"Aww, you're such a perv." Kaede laughed mischievously, despite knowing full well that the game Ascion bought was an action type game.

"Oh, where has the shy and helpful girl from school gone?" Ascion raised his arms towards the sky tragically before dropping his arms and bringing down several lightning bolts on a small group of golems.

Ascien grinned wickedly as he thought of how to get back at Kaede. "Unless…you're a, what do people call them... a tsundere?"

The shocking sentence caused Kaede to fumble, and her bullet missed."W-where the heck did you get that from?!" She yelled, her face red. Her second shot glanced off the same golem before her third shot brought it down.

"Hmm, maybe not? You aren't really cold towards me, so a kuudere? Wait, you're blunt, but not cynical. Maybe a dandere? No, impossible. You talk a lot in school and you're definitely not sweet towards me. Maybe a yandere- wait, no, thats horrible." Ascion quickly amended as he absently blasted another golem.

Even though Kaede knew he was joking, she was still red up to the tips of her slightly pointed ears. "What the heck! Ascion!"

"I should make one up." Ascion pretended to have a sudden revelation. "Jodandere*."

The clip of bullets Kaede was about to reload with suddenly greeted the back of Ascion's head. Hard. She forcefully jammed her pistol back into its holster. "Shut up! I am _not_ any type of dere! I'll shoot you!"

"Okay, time out! It was just a joke!" Ascion waved his arms frantically as Kaede pointed her nocked bow at him.

"It better be!" An arrow, noticeably loaded with more magic than needed, pierced the next golem.

"I am _not _hiding any affection for that idiot." Kaede muttered to herself while glancing at Ascion.

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><p>"And this is it!" Ascion blasted the last group of golems to bits with another needlessly powerful spell.<p>

The Stone Golem Ruins was turned into a wasteland of charred, frozen, or simply barren earth that was once a field of grass. The ruins that was once a temple were also more... ruined. Obviously, Ascion was the cause of it, but Kaede was partly responsible for the numerous craters caused by her Bomb Arrows.

If it wasn't for the fact that most parts of the world is half frozen in time due to the influence of the Transcendence of Time, Rhinne, Maple would have been destroyed from all the powerful spells casted long ago. Even if the field was completely ravaged as if every natural disaster ever seen had ran through it, it will return to normal after a short while.

As the two teenagers watched, the field flattened itself and grass grew back at a speed visible to the eye while dust rose up to cover and repair the holes in the ruins.

"Will you be alright?" Kaede asked. "Even though you're a genius, you've used up quite a lot of mana to cast those spells."

"Oh, you're worried about me now?" Ascion teased.

"Pshhh- If you don't want my concern, fine!"

"Jodandere." Ascion muttered mischievously.

"Dear Rhinne, just tell me- hey Wolfie, you don't look so good."

"I'm fine. If I didn't use up my mana, I'll be so restless that... I won't be able to... fall asleep... tonight... ouch, I think I got a migraine."

"O-oi, Wolfie?"

"It'll pass. Um, Kaede?"

"W-what?"

Ascion stared at Kaede intently with half eyes closed. Kaede flushed a light pink under his intense stare, but the darkness of the night covered her cheeks.

"Did you cast... illusion magic?" Ascion was now swaying slightly.

"... Huh? Of course not."

Kaede raised an eyebrow. Ascion should know that she has zero experience in that branch of magic.

"Uh, this might sound... weird, but... why are there... two of... everything?"

"... You need to rest."

"That... sounds... strangely... captivating." And with that, Ascion fell forward. He would have hit the ground face first and perhaps break his nose if not for Kaede,who was standing right in front of him.

Kaede staggered slightly as she supported the unconscious magician, dropping her bow in the process. Her arms instinctively went under his shoulders to stop him from falling.

Realizing that she was practically hugging the boy, the usually composed archer blushed bright red.

She shifted her arms slightly to get into a better position, trying not to let Ascion slip out of her arms while telling herself that it was definitely not because she liked hugging him. Her actions caused Ascion to move his head slightly from side to side.

That was when she blushed an even brighter shade of red. If one looked closely, they would be able to see smoke steaming out of her ears.

Among the boys, Ascion was considered to be at an average height, at 165 cm tall. Among the girls, Kaede was considered to be slightly above average, at 164 cm.

Ascion's knees bent when he collapsed, and being unconscious, he is currently slumped against Kaede.

Since they are both of nearly the same height, that naturally meant that Ascion had planted his face right in the middle of the young archer's chest.

Kaede almost yelped and dropped the sleeping boy, but she managed not to. Instead, she quickly eased the boy onto the soft grass.

"What should I do now?..." Kaede muttered to herself, trying hard not to focus too much on the fact that she was in intimate contact with her best friend.

She looked down at the sleeping boy. "Well, he's too heavy, and we've been fighting for a few hours straight, so I don't have the energy to carry him back. Besides, it's like 11pm." She muttered to herself.

"Well, since that's the case, we should camp out here." She reasoned with herself. "But it's not like I want to sleep with him!"

Fumbling with her quiver strap, Kaede unbuckled her leather quiver and lay it on the ground. Then she reached into one of the pockets on the quiver and pulled out four small rods. She quickly planted the rods around them, and flipped a switch on one of the rods.

The four rods spewed out magical energy and covered the duo in a dome shaped barrier. A handy tool invented by the mages of Ellinia and Xenon, one of the only xenoroids in the world.

Then she lay down beside Ascion, and after some hesitation, wrapped her arms around him. The young girl's face burned with embarrassment, but as she snuggled up to the boy's chest, she repeatedly told herself that she was just making sure the magician is fine.

After staying in that position with those kind of thoughts running through her mind for around thirty minutes, exhaustion finally won out, and Kaede soon fell asleep beside Ascion.

Of course, despite her protests against it, Kaede is definitely a dere. Of a sort.

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><p>*<strong>冗談<strong>**デレ****. Made up of '****冗談****' meaning 'joke' and '****デレデレ****'**** meaning 'to become lovey dovey'. Which means that the person in question, currently Kaede, jokes around to cover her shyness and affection. ****As a side note, I made up this term because I can't find a suitable term**

**Well, that's it for the chapter! Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey, I'm back! Just thought I probably should have specified this before, but this story takes place around the time the Seal Stone is recovered in the Adventurer storyline. So yeah. On to the next chapter!**

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><p>Chapter 4:<p>

When Ascion woke up, he immediately reached out to his senses to scan his surroundings for any danger or hostile intent. He detected none, except a possible danger from the warm something hugging him.

Keeping his eyes closed, Ascion pretended to shift slightly in his sleep and moved his arms slightly, trying to figure out what was hugging him. His fingers rested against something that felt like thin cloth.

That something hugging his chest shifted and let out a soft moan.

Ascion froze. The last traces of sleepiness clouding his mind quickly faded away and his eyes snapped open. He recognized that voice.

The person hugging him while sleeping, namely Kaede, settled down again, snuggling her face into his chest.

While it was not uncomfortable to have a girl hugging you when you woke up, it was most definitely awkward.

"Uh, Kaede?" Ascion called out softly, but the archer didn't respond. Slowly, Ascion gently separated Kaede from him and stood up.

The sleeping archer stirred a little at the lost of warmth, but she didn't wake up. '_She looks so cute when she's aslee…wait, what am I thinking!'_Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Ascion looked up, trying to gauge how long he had slept.

The moon was just rising when he collapsed from that embarrassing episode of magic exhaustion, and now the sun was rising over the horizon. Maybe eight or nine hours?

…!

"Kaede? Hey, Kaede, wake up!"

"Hmm, just a minute, dad..."

Dad? Ascion thought, but he shook the girl's shoulder again.

"Kaede, it's me, Ascion. Get up!"

"W-Wolfie?!" Kaede's eyes snapped open as she bolted upright. "What're you-" her eyes darted from side to side, and she realized that she wasn't at home.

"Oh..." Her cheeks flared bright red as she recalled her bold actions the previous night. Ascion didn't seem to notice it in the dim starlight though.

"I have quite a few questions about last night," Kaede shifted uncomfortably, "but that can wait. We're going to be late for school."

...

"Wha- wai-wai-wai-wait! Hold up! Waaaahhh!"

"Come on! Let's pick up pace! Ahhh, mom's gonna kill me if I'm late again!"

All embarrassment forgotten, Kaede dragged the protesting Ascion as she started running, having kicked down the temporary barrier quickly.

Obviously, Ascion was not as fit as Kaede, since an archer definitely trains physically more than a magician.

"I can't move my arms properly! I'm going to die! Ahhhh!"

"What does your arms have to do with running!"

"I'm a frigging magician! I don't run! I teleport!"

Hearing that, Kaede immediately let go of Ascion's wrist. Losing his main source of propulsion, Ascion face planted into the earth.

Although he immediately appeared next to the still running Kaede in a flash of blue and white, Ascion's face was still flecked with bits of grass and dirt.

"Sorry!" Kaede yelled. Her running posture could not have been stable, for she held her longbow in one hand and a cellphone in the other. However, she managed to sprint at full speed, using her mana to boost her already impressive speed even further.

"I'm okay!" Ascion called back as he alternated between jogging and teleporting. "Let's pick up the pace!"

"Hello? Mom, yeah, sorry about last night..."

* * *

><p>"Hah, hahh... We made it..." Ascion managed to pant out as he collapsed into his seat.<p>

"Good..." Kaede leaned back in her seat with a sigh.

It was lucky that the magicians from the Institute of Magic in Ellinia made an easy to use spell to create a small dimension for keeping things in long ago.

Of course, the size of the dimension depends on the magical strength of the user, but even as middle school students, that space was enough to keep textbooks in.

If they had to lug large bags around like the old adventurers did over ten years ago, the two teenagers would not have made on time.

Ascion turned to face Kaede and was about to comment on how lucky they were, but stopped himself when he took in his friend's current state.

Kaede raised an eyebrow when Ascion quickly turned away, his face glaringly red and flustered.

Finally aware of the appreciative stares sent by the boys and the flustered glances from the girls, Kaede looked down at herself.

With a yelp, Kaede crossed her arms over her chest and face planted on her table to hide her embarrassment.

While the school uniform was enchanted to be heat resistant, cold resistant and semi stab proof, it was not thick.

Due to the full blown training/mission yesterday plus the long run to school, her uniform stuck to her like a second skin.

The curves of her body were emphasized by the white uniform hugging her body.

To make things worse, while her skirt did not reveal anything, her shirt was drenched with sweat, and the uniform had turned translucent, almost see through.

Most girls would be embarrassed by this kind of appearance.

'Ahhhh! Whatdoidowhatdoido WHAT DO I DO?!' Kaede thought desperately as she started curling up.

Then, her clothes started to feel dry. Kaede glanced up to see Ascion raising his palm in her direction, while his face pointedly looked out of the window.

Water vapor slowly gathered in Ascion's hand as her clothes dried. Pretty soon, her clothes were completely dry, and Ascion lobbed the ball of water that gathered in his palm out of the window.

"Well." Ascion avoided eye contact with Kaede as he took out his books. "That was awkward."

"Shut up, Wolfie." Kaede muttered as she did the same. "Just let me copy your homework."

"Why so cold, Kaede?" Ascion tried to lighten the mood as he casually handed over his worksheets.

Kaede grabbed the stack and started scribbling down the workings and answers as quickly as possible, which was pretty fast.

In fact, she went so fast that on the last worksheet, her last few sentences were edged with black burn marks.

Ascion whistled. "That was impressive. Three pages of work completed in a minute."

"You're not one to say." Kaede retorted. You finished your homework, complete with workings, in a minute as well."

"That was because I can do all three at once. With three different pens. And I'm smart."

"Show off." Kaede muttered, handing back Ascion's worksheets before using correction tape to mask the burns marks and to erase and rewrite a few lines to make it look like she was actually the one who did it.

"You're just jealous." Ascion grinned as he carelessly threw his papers onto his desk. As to when he had time to do it, he had actually finished it when they were walking towards the golem ruins, using his mind to control three pens and finishing all three worksheets at the same time.

"I am _not_-"

"Alright class!" The homeroom teacher, Benjamin Lee, walked in and shouted. "Settle down! Or I'll smack you with my baseball bat!" The thin, wiry man actually twirled an aluminium bat to emphasize his point.

"Baseball nut much?" Ascion muttered as he went back into his signature position of propping his feet on the table like a boss.

"Guess so. I heard that he was a baseball player before he became a teacher. Supposedly had a falling out with his coach."

"Mm, I see." Ascion muttered absently, his tone immediately giving away the fact that he wasn't actually interested. "Benjamin's too hard to say. I'll call him Benny."

"What the heck, Wolfie... That's kinda disrespectful..."

"You know me, Kaede. I just don't care enough. Besides, he was the one who said we can call him anything as long as it isn't anything funny."

Kaede sighed again. "Oh, well. At least Benny doesn't sound _too_ bad."

"Alright, now it's time for the thing most of you probably hate! Self introductions!"

The entire class groaned. As expected, being middle school students, most of them do not like self introductions as there was practically nothing anybody wants to say, as friends already knew each other and nobody actually wanted to introduce themselves to people they barely know.

"Yeah, I know." The teacher grumbled as well. "This thing's completely pointless, since no one wants to spill their secrets to complete strangers. It's just a tradition, so deal with it. We'll go by name."

In case you were wandering how can a teacher be so frivolous, or rather how can a school let a teacher be so carefree, the answer was simple.

The school currently in question, named the Maple's Middle School of Combat Arts, is the only middle school in the world of Maple that teaches combat.

There's also a high school, but no college or university. That is because at that age, you should have already decided whether you want to be a full blown adventurer or if you want to continue your studies before your adventuring business.

Some people even drop the whole adventuring thing to pursue another career path.

Back to the school. As it's supposed to be a combat school, the teachers can't afford to be gentle.

For example, if you got a small scrape and ask for a band aid from the school doctor, he will seriously tell you to consider transferring.

As a result, the school rules are quite lax.

Thus, it's quite a common occurrence for a teacher and student to be arguing casually or for duels to break out all over the school compound.

"Alright, first person, Ascion Wolf."

Ascion stood up, a resigned look on his face. "The name's Ascion, most of you should have heard of me, so I have nothing more to say." he said curtly before slumping back into his seat.

Whispers immediately broke out, and none of them were nice.

"Ascion Wolf? Isn't he that guy rumored to have melted somebody's face and nearly killed him?"

"Yeah, and they say he kidnapped people for his experiments!"

"W-what kind of experiments?"

"Real inhuman ones!"

All sorts of baseless rumors were being whispered around, with everybody mindlessly believing the words of another without any proof.

It really ticked Ascion off, about how brainless his fellow classmates, who may become his future comrades, were. But he didn't want to start a commotion here. It wasn't that he was afraid of bringing more trouble to himself, he just didn't want to give Kaede more bad press.

Noticing that the class is getting a bit too noisy, Benjamin smacked his bat on the wall and yelled at the class to shut up. Kaede jumped in surprise as she had been resting her head.

"What a shocker." she muttered, irritated. "He's good at making people shut up."

Indeed, the entire classroom quickly fell silent, although teenagers never stayed quiet for long.

Benjamin ignored the soft whispers and called out the next name on the list.

And so it went on and on. Kaede's wasn't quite as bad, though most of their classmates seem to have mixed impressions on her. Some thought she seemed like a nice girl, while some marked her as crazy for even daring to be friends with Ascion.

The teacher continued. Ascion didn't pay attention until he called out a particular name.

"Shinohara Akio!"

* * *

><p><strong>And that's a wrap! Oh, and my cousin has something to say...<strong>

**[WTH, I wanna be like Ascion too! I have like a shit load of homework that needs to completed but am I done? Nooooo! :( ]**

**So, um, yeah, my cousin's really random, but a****s usual, please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

**Okay, so this chapter has some explanatory stuff, and it'll be sorta boring. Just bear with it, please!**

"Shinohara Akio!"

Ascion perked up slightly at that. After all, he was interested in him. "That guy's in our class?" He asked Kaede in a whisper.

"Of course, idiot. You would've noticed earlier if you weren't so absorbed in sleeping or playing with your fireball."

"Well, sorry for not being interested."

"My name is Shinohara Akio, thirteen. Warrior." The teenage warrior introduced himself softly, keeping the introduction short. He then proceeded to sit down, not willing to continue any further.

"Hmph. Alright, next-"

Ascion didn't bother listening to what the teacher said next. He just wasn't interested in what those idiots had to say. Well, most of them were, at any rate. Though there were a few exceptions; people that are actually nice.

And this Shinohara Akio, to Ascion, definitely seemed like a nice person. Albeit one that doesn't express his emotions very well.

* * *

><p>"I'm bored." Ascion whined while draping himself on a branch on the outskirts of Henesys.<p>

School had just ended a short while ago, and the two teenagers finally got around to telling Athena that they had completed their job. Obviously, they were yelled at for being irresponsible and worrying the crap out of her, as Athena said herself, but they were still given the rewards of a few hundred mesos.

"We just had our level test before the start of school this year, right? What level are you, Ascion?" Kaede asked, ignoring the his previous comment.

"58." Ascion replied, shifting on the branch to get comfortable.

"Whoa, that's already enough for traveling to Pantheon and El Nath! Weren't you only 49 last year?"

"Boys grow quickly at this age." Ascion nodded to himself sagely while stroking an imaginary beard.

"... Ascion, that's referring to your height, and I thought boys only start growing quickly at the age of fifteen."

"Don't sweat the details, it's only two years away."

In Maple, every adventurer is regularly ranked with the levels 1 through 250, with 1 being the weakest and 250 being the strongest. Apart from Maple Island, Rien, Ereve and the outskirts of towns, permission to explore places outside a town is given only if certain level requirements are met.

For example, permission to explore Victoria Island is only given after passing level 20.

Of course, unless given special permission from authorized individuals, like parents and/or instructors, adventurers have to be at least sixteen years of age before they're allowed to go on adventures.

Yet, with that said, special permissions are given out a lot, given that many with ages ranging from 11 to 15 drop out of school to go on adventures. In fact, as long as a person is at least level 45, it is almost guaranteed that he or she would receive the permission.

So back to the story. Normally, a specially permitted adventurer starts out at level 45, enough to travel around Victoria Island with the exception of Sleepywood, and Ascion had long surpassed that level. However-

"I'm going to get to level 100 before I'm sixteen, without fail." Ascion smirked. Not that anybody can see him, given how high up he is. "What level are you anyway, Kaede?"

"Only 32."

"That's not bad for a thirteen year old."

"You're nearly twice my level. And Wolfie, talking like that makes you sound like an old man whose encouraging his granddaughter. And that is really weird."

"I do not sound like an old man!" Ascion protested indignantly.

"Yeah, yeah, sure you don't."

"Hey! Can't you show your best friend some respect?"

"Now, asking people to show you respect makes you sound even more like an old man."

"Kaede!"

The archer giggled. "Just kidding, Wolfie."

Ascion huffed indignantly. "Whatever. Say, this Akio guy really loves chess, huh?"

"I've already said that yesterday, didn't I?"

"Do you think he'll play with me?" Ascion asked brightly.

"Well, maybe? That's if you can find him in the first place." Kaede looked troubled when Ascion laughed wickedly.

"I know exactly where he is."

* * *

><p>"Wolfie, I swear you're going to be arrested for invasion of privacy one day."<p>

"Nah, it won't be that bad."

"Placing a tracking spell on another person without his consent is very bad."

"A person whose well trained can easily tell when a tracking spell is placed on him, so these spells aren't illegal. So there."

Ascion and Kaede were currently trekking through the wilderness of Perion, a desert sitting on mountains. Or rather, Kaede was trekking. Ascion was just teleporting. The ground was rocky, but flat enough to walk on, with the occasional rope ladder to climb.

"It's still morally wrong. You're invading somebody's privacy!"

"Morals? What are morals?" Ascion feigned surprise, although he still had a grin on his face.

"Wolfie!"

"Kidding, kidding." Ascion laughed. "We're almost there."

Before long, the sounds of a waterfall could be heard, a refreshing change from the sounds of dry wind and clicking sounds made by Ghost Stumps.

"I didn't know there's a waterfall in Perion." Kaede commented curiously.

"They're very well hidden. How did you think the people living in Perion got their water?"

"I dunno. Do a rain dance? Okay, that was really disrespectful." Kaede quickly amended her words. "I've never really thought about it, actually."

"Well, they've got these waterfalls to keep them going."

The waterfall soon came into sight. It was quite a simple waterfall actually. A large stream of water fell from the top of a steep protrusion, with only sparse numbers of scraggly brushes and thin trees around it.

Ascion looked around. "Huh? I was sure that he's around here somewhere."

Even though they were already quite close to the waterfall, there was no sign of anybody around. Nobody in sight, no equipment anywhere, nothing to indicate that there's a person around.

"Let's take a closer lo-" Ascion was cut shot when he suddenly had to deflect a flying spear, slamming(I still think slamming is the right word) it away with his staff. They were already close enough to see the waterfall, but neither noticed the warrior until he threw his spear.

"Why are you here?" Shinohara Akio asked warily as he walked out from under the waterfall. He was dressed in full armor, and he was completely drenched. Another spear was hefted and a large, metal shield was raised in from of him.

Ascion stared in amazement for five seconds before he asked "Dude, were you like meditating under the waterfall?"

Akio's face didn't even twitch. "Yes. Now, my question."

"Oh. Uh, my name's Ascion-"

"I know." Akio interrupted. "I asked, why are you here?"

"You're not going to ask how we found you?" Ascion asked.

"I know about the tracking spell. I would have questioned you about that immediately after you put it on me, but the bell signalling the end of lunch rang. Now, answer my question."

_'So_ thats_ why he looked like he wanted to talk to us when we were walking away, back then.'_ Kaede sighed. _'Way to make a first impression, Ascion.'_

"Oh, well, I just wanna play chess with you."

Akio lowered his spear, but he still looked wary. "You could have asked me in school."

"Well, I'm bored now. Besides, you're always swamped in school."

"I see." A pause. "And here I was, wondering why you would wanted to track me."

"What did you think?" Ascion asked, rolling his eyes.

"There were many rumors about you, mage, and none of them were nice. I did not know which to believe."

"Trust me." Ascion muttered. "Just about all of them are fake."

"And why should I trust you? But enough said." Akio sighed. "If you want to play, then let us play."

Kaede finally couldn't stand looking at Akio anymore and burst out "You're not gonna change out of your wet armor? Or even try to dry yourself?"

Akio nonchalantly replied. "What for?"

"Um, comfort?" Kaede tried.

"Who needs that?"

**Kind of a short chapter too. Oh well, please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Alright, I'm back with another chapter! And early Merry Christmas to everyone! I don't think I'll be able to update on Christmas day, so I'm saying this first.**

**Just saw some other authors do this, so I thought I should try it out as well. Why I didn't think of this earlier, I don't know.**

**Candyyyy: My first reviewer! Thank you for your encouragement!**

**NekomimiToree: I'll take your words to mind. I never thought trying to create a crazy-and-carefree type of character will make readers feel like that. I'll have to alter a few things, although I don't think I'll do something drastic like give him a personality change. Thank you for pointing that out though! I be sure to try and correct it!**

**Also, there'll be a (maybe) small note at the end of the chapter to explain a few things. Now that that's over with, on with the story!**

Chapter 6:

"Hey, you're pretty good." Ascion commented. "Bishop 1, B-4"

"Hn. It's been awhile since I last found a good player." Akio nodded. "Rook 2, E-6 "

"Damn, you saw that trap, huh? Knight 2, F-4"

"Rook 1, H-4"

"Queen, F-2."

Kaede watched the two boys play chess, feeling completely bored. She knows that chess is interesting to the two who are playing, but she just can't focus on it. In the end, she decided to just leave the two boys to entertain themselves while she explored for a bit.

Tossing her heavy bow and quiver near the waterfall's pool, Kaede flexed her arms and started to scale the steep slope around the waterfall. Just for fun.

As she climbed, she suddenly heard Ascion's panicked shouts from the bottom of the slope. Giggling, she held on to a protrusion and hung off the side of the mountain precariously. "I'm up here!" She called down to the boys.

Startled, Ascion looked up so quickly that Kaede almost thought that his head was going to fly off. "Kaede!" Ascion shouted in exasperation. "Don't scare me like that!"

Strangely, Akio did not seem worried at all. He was still sitting near the chessboard, and did not even glance up when Kaede called out. He simply replied "Be careful, the slopes are slippery."

Slightly disappointed by the lack of reaction, mainly because she liked surprising people, Kaede laughed loudly at Ascion's irritation before resuming her climb.

Kaede lithely backflipped onto the top of the waterfall, laughing as she turned around to look down from high up. She stretched, looking around to see if there are more places to give herself a light exercise, perhaps a grove of dead trees to maneuver in...

*Clatter*

"Hm?" What was that? Kaede turned towards the direction of that sound.

A stone wall stared at her.

'... Eh?'

She stared back. Was that wall there before?

The wall blinked.

'Wait... Since when could walls blink?'

Then a strange, small sound drew her eyes slightly downwards to a row of canines.

...

Kaede started listing off the facts in her head.

1, There's a wall in front of her that she swear was not there the first time round.

2, The wall blinked.

3, The wall has teeth. Very sharp teeth.

Conclusion, it's a monster. And it's way too close.

"KYAAAAHH!"

* * *

><p>Ascion jumped to his feet, his wand already out and charged with mana the moment he heard Kaede's scream.<p>

Seeing how Kaede was descending the steep hill rapidly, there must be something at the top of the hill that scared her off.

That something soon followed her. One look and Ascion knew it was a Rocky Mask, a rather mediocre monster not much stronger than Stone Golems.

Kaede could have easily taken it out, which either meant there was something else up there or she got spooked.

Ascion sighed, knowing it was probably the latter. Despite loving to scare the living daylights out of people, he knew that Kaede was deathly afraid of jump scares herself.

However, before Ascion could do anything, Akio calmly stood up and picked up his spear.

He wasn't even shocked when he heard Kaede's sudden screamed, or when he saw both the girl and the monster descending the hill. It was almost as if this was all within his expectations.

Lightning spread from where Akio gripped the spear, coating the weapon in electricity. Taking careful aim, he threw the spear.

The good part is that spear pierced right through the stone wall the monster uses as a mask/shield, killing the Rocky Mask immediately.

The bad part was that the stone wall the monster was holding was not a part of the monster itself, which meant that now, instead of a monster, Kaede had about a dozen pieces of rock chasing her down the hill, causing her to scream again.

Apparently Akio had not thought about that, for his eyes widened slightly and said the most emotional word Ascion had heard him say in the past half hour. "Shit."

He took off with a running jump, then started scaling the hill almost as fast as Kaede did earlier. In full armor.

Ascion resisted the urge to facepalm. Was there a reason why that warrior can't just unclasp his armor and let the pieces fall onto the ground, or did that thought just never occur to him?

He decided not to care at that moment and settled for carefully blasted the rocks chasing Kaede away. It wasn't helping that the rocks on the mountain were all rather loose. The falling rocks knocked free even more rocks, which eventually grew into an avalanche.

Then, Kaede slipped.

In her defense, the rocks were slippery and a small pebble had hit her on the neck when she was taking another step down. Kaede screamed yet again as she toppled sideways.

She would have landed into the waterfall if not for Akio, who had jumped off the hill like he wasn't wearing a hundred pounds of steel and grabbed her before jamming his other hand into a small shaft just beside the waterfall.

At the same time, Ascion quickly assessed the situation and opted to channel all his magic into boosting the barrier made by the warrior. That of course, immediately gave away the fact that Akio is a Page, despite his casual use of a spear. No other warrier learned defensive spells at this stage.

Then again, a real Spearman wouldn't have thrown his weapon. So Akio's probably like Kaede, Ascion concluded absently as he continued to power the barrier. Using a weapon that doesn't go along with his classification so as to hide his main strengths.

Kaede, he could understand due to an incident that happened years ago. But why did Akio want to do such a thing?

"A little heavy. Help?" Ascion heard Akio grunt, pulling him out of his thoughts. He blinked and realized that the rocks have stopped smashing into the barriers. Then he blinked again as what Akio said registered in his brain. Did he just-

"Who are you calling heavy?!" Kaede yelled.

Oh yeah, he did. Ascion suppressed a chuckle before getting ready to teleport the two of them down. Since he had to do this one by one, he should probably take Kaede down first. Unlike Akio, she probably wanted a change of clothes in private.

* * *

><p>"Thanks, Wolfie." Kaede let out a sigh after Ascion came down with Akio.<p>

"No problem." Ascion waved it off. "And I see you've changed."

"Of course." Kaede said, burning up in embarrassment This is the second time in a single day that she had gotten her pure white, fabric uniform wet.

This time, she changed into her hunting gear, which consists of a dark green shirt, a leather jacket, a short green skirt, and hard leather boots.

She quickly picked up her bow and quiver. Then she spun around and kicked Akio.

"That's for calling me heavy." She said, trying her best to ignore the pain she felt from kicking his steel armour while wearing leather boots.

Akio just raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

Kaede turned back to Ascion just as he opened his mouth.

"No, I will die of boredom if I sit here and watch you two play with figurines on a board." Kaede flatly refused before Ascion could even ask.

"Fine." Ascion scratched the back of his head. "Just... Be more careful, okay?"

"I know." Kaede said, annoyed. "I just got spooked, alright?"

"Remember to contact me if anything happens!" Ascion called out as she walked off.

"Yeah I know!" Kaede shouted back, before starting to plot bloody murder against the family of the Rocky Mask that had dared to scare her like that.

As soon as Kaede was out of earshot, Ascion turned to Akio in amazement. "Dude, you actually dared to call a girl heavy?"

Akio just looked at him with the same unchanging bland expression. "Was I not supposed to say that?" He asked in the same monotonous voice he always used. Ascion did, however, detect a small trace of puzzlement from the armored teen.

Ascion stared at him incredulously. "Er, no?"

"Not even a little?" Akio's face was still bland like he was discussing the weather and not a sensitive topic.

Ascion couldn't take it anymore. He burst out laughing.

* * *

><p>"Ascion, if you're coming back here to play chess again, I'm not coming with you." Kaede said flatly when she saw Ascion grinning like a loon as they headed for the Perion taxi stand.<p>

"But our score is undecided at 1 win 1 lose!" Ascion protested.

"..." Kaede pointedly looked at the sunset.

"What?"

"It's been, what, five hours since you started your first chess match? How did you two end with two games?"

"Who said we only played two games?" Ascion raised an eyebrow. "We just had like a hundred draws."

"... Forget I asked." Kaede muttered, covering her face with her hand. "I don't even want to know."

"Of course!" Ascion smiled brightly. "Come on, let's go home!"

* * *

><p>"Thanks for walking me back." Kaede smiled affectionately.<p>

"No sweat." Ascion smiled. "We don't want to have a repeat of that incident."

"I'm a lot stronger now." Kaede pouted as she gave Ascion a hug.

"Sure you are. But I still wanna make sure you're okay."

Kaede gave Ascion a little wave before opening the door to her house. Glancing back, she noted that like always, Ascion had disappeared like the wind.

"Tadaima!" Kaede slipped into her native tongue, Japanese, the moment she's alone with her family.

"Welcome back, sweetie." Her mother greeted from the kitchen.

"Come and join us." Her father smiled, an amused light dancing in his eyes. "We're just starting dinner."

Expectedly(or not, it doesn't matter), her parents spoke in Japanese as well. "Let me thr- put down my stuff first!" Kaede shouted while heading upstairs to her room, nearly biting her tongue when she stopped herself from saying 'throw'. Her mother hates it when she carelessly throws her things around, even though that was exactly what she wanted to do.

After putting down her things and brushing off as much dust and dried mud off her hunting clothes(in her bathroom), Kaede bounded down the stairs to see her dinner waiting for her.

"Itadakimasu!" Kaede almost shouted before starting to eat quickly. She was starving.

"How was your day, dear?" Kaede's mother asked.

Kaede forced herself to swallow before speaking. "It was fine. A little boring, but fine."

"Oh?" Her father raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you with Ascion-kun today?"

"So?"

Her father's mouth twitched upwards. "You were just complaining a few days ago that with Ascion-kun around, everything is too crazy."

Kaede rolled her eyes. "Not when he's playing chess with some other guy the whole day." Kaede made a small sound of dissatisfaction at this.

"Is that your way of saying you want Ascion-kun's attention, dear?" Her mother teased.

"M-Mom!"

And so, dinner went by fairly quickly in a similar fashion.

As soon as dinner was done, Kaede's father picked up his cap. "Well, I'm off to work!" He kissed his wife on her cheek and ruffled Kaede's already messy hair.

"Dad!" Kaede protested.

Her mother giggled. "Stay safe, dearest." She kissed her husband on the cheek as well.

Kaede huffed and pointedly turned away, but she still mumbled "Stay safe, dad." before giving him a brief hug.

"Alright, I'm off!" Kaede's father said as he checked his pistol and bullets.

"Bye dad!"

The door swung shut, although Kaede could still hear her father's whistling through the door. She wished he would take his job a little more seriously, being a security guard of the Victoria Island Bank, but she knew it was his own sort of awkward way to reassure them that he'll be alright.

Kaede shrugged and walked up the stairs as her mother returned to the kitchen. Well, better get started on homework.

**A/N: Well, and that's another chapter done! As for the explanations part, here it is!**

**First, I know that typically in MS fanfics, adventurers get a bag linked to another dimension or something like that one way or another to explain the crazy amount of things they can stuff into a bag and lug it around easily. I replaced that with a self created dimension to store things in, partly because I don't see a bag anywhere on my Maple character no matter how hard I look, partly to explain why your inventory (used to? I haven't created a new character in quite some time, so I don't know) expands with every Job Advancement and partly because I think it's cool, so I settled with this idea.**

**Second, I put phones in here, which is what Ascion meant by contacting him just now. Also, to explain party chat and whispers and chat rooms and all that.**

**I think that's about it. I'll see you next chapter, and reviews are appreciated!**


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